i was just thinking about blues heads was wondering which heads you all are particularly fond of.  some seem to get played all the time - billie's bounce, c jam blues and blue monk are constantly called here but get a bit dull after a while.  

would love to hear your favourites...
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actually i practice and call mine on stage in alphabetical order :
all blues
blues walk, blues for alice, billies bounce
cool blues
d natural blues
equinox
freddie freeloader
green onions
help me
incoherent blues
jumpin with symphony sid
kansas city,  kidney stew
locomotion
misterioso
night train
opus de funk
perhaps
queen bee
sonnymoon for two
things ain't what they used to be
visa
walkin
stormy monday
sittin on top of the world
red rooster
hoochie coochie man
killer joe
st. james infirmary
take me to the river
a change gonna come
i think it is a stretch to call "killer joe" a blues.
bag's groove  (milt jackson)
birk's works (dizzy gilespie)
skj (milt jackson)
blues in the closet (oscar petiford)
sundown (wes montgomery)
c jam blues (ellington)
sonny moon for two
now's the time (parker)
one o'clock jump (basie)
au privave
intimacy of the blues (strayhorn) is nice.
route 66 (troup), especially if you or someone else sings.
tossed salad (frasier theme tune) sometimes gets glimmers of recognition from the audience.
i'm into something good (herman's hermits!) may get a laugh.
put on your hi-heel sneakers.

not a blues, but close, is down in the hole (waits), also vaguely recognisable to fans of the wire.  there are youtube performances of it by the blind boys of alabama that i particularly enjoy.

finally, if existing blues heads don't satisfy, why not write your own?

sid
oh, and count 'em (quincy jones)
and of course...

blue monk
straigth no chaser
by jobim is actually a blues!
i don't believe it.
"wave" (first 12 bar section)

||: i | ivº | ii/iv | v/iv |

| iv | ivm | ii/ii | v/ii |

| ii7 (v/v) | subv/v v7#5 | im7 iv7 | im7 iv7 :||

the first line starts out on the i, then preps for the iv. the second line starts out on the iv, then preps for the ii-v-i in the last line.

i didn't believe it either until i took a good look at the analysis ...
by golly, he's right.  this revelation may well have changed my life.

sid
yes  but then there is a bridge.  personally i would not go furthur thna saying itis a compostiton that has an a section is a heavilly reharmonized blues, or a variation on a blues.  but to call it a blues and leave i at that would be very misleading.  oft times as  you know we call tunes on stage and say to the others..."ok its a just a blues and d"    then you relax and figure the tune will be no problem to pick up as you go.  if you called out wave this way on stage.. disaster would most certainly follow because fact is wave is not a blues.  it is a tune that at most has one of its sections based on a blues..
course that is just me and i get particularly upset when bandleaders tell me a tune is just a blues or just rhythm changes in a particular key and then count off the tune.  and then the tune is not at all just a blues or rhythm changes.  these are moments i have to remember my hero samuel jackson in pulp fiction and say on to myself... i am the strong and he is the weak...   i am the shephard he the flock and yee though i want so much to get up from my piano and strangle the bastarde right here for the audience to see  .. it is not for me, it is for the lord   for as god is my witness... vengeance is the lords.
so i meekly give the band leader the finger and then spend the rest of the tune trying to hear what the changes are.
."

you would certainly need bigger ears than mine if you were trying to play wave by ear on the bandstand and got told it was a blues in d...

...either that or you'd have to play it for a fortnight while i figured it out! ;-)
absolutely so in this case you actually end up giving the bandleader the finger more than once... several times in fact.  the audience thinks you are doing some kind of dance behind the piano.
and because you are shouting "f u"  "f u" at him over and over the audience thinks you are singing and they start saying to the club owner..."why don't they give the piano player a microphone?"
the owner says i am not sure but i think there is a good reason.  
so the moral of this story is you tell me wave is a blues in this thread but please dont tell me its a blue on stage or we might have a problem.
interestingly enough, that's exactly how nat cole started singing.  apparently, one night in a club somebody called wave and told him it was just a blues in d.

it soon became clear to nat that there was much more going on than a standard blues and, incensed, he started shouting "f u, f u" over and over at the bandleader.

the audience thought he was starting to sing and demanded the club owner give the pianist a microphone.

the club owner was reluctant at first, but finally gave in to their demands.  he climbed on stage and thrust a mic in front of nat and for the first time, people could hear his voice ringing out...

"f u... ever plan to motor west..."

the rest, as they say, is history.
hahaha!  excellent! you two should write a screen play
lol,  good one barry.
'twas a thing of beauty - the way mike set it up with the whole pulp fiction thing and barry scores with the ultimate punch line - awesome! :)
kudos, barry!
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